Amazon Prime to end a benefit of Whole Foods

Amazon Prime members are entitled to have a number of benefits from the subscription. Apart from the free delivery benefit, the Prime membership comes with a number of other perks. However the Prime members who shop from Whole Foods will soon lose one of the benefit of subscribing. The Whole Foods Market will soon be adding $9.95 service fee for the grocery deliveries. This cost was waived for the Prime Members on the orders above $35. The new fee will be applied from October 25, 2021.

A spokesperson from Whole Foods informed that the fee will be covering the cost of equipment, operating cost, technology and other cost for the grocery delivery orders. However, the Prime members can continue to place a pick-up order from Whole Foods for free but only if they are spending more than $35. The spokesperson assured that the other perks of the Prime subscribers including ten percent off on all the grocery items that are already on sale, will continue to remain.

Whole Foods spokesperson while talking to a leading daily also said that they have improved their delivery business and have also expanded their service area. He informed that Whole Foods delivered more than three times as many orders in 2020 when compared to 2019. The coronavirus pandemic played a major role in the increase in the online deliveries as majority of people remained at home due to safety reasons. People wanted to avoid crowding at the grocery stores, who had also imposed restrictions on the number of customers to be allowed inside.

The company has said that in 2021, it has noticed that more number of people are now returning for in-store shopping. It was in 2017 when Whole Foods was purchased by Amazon, who integrated it in to different parts of its business. A standard Amazon Prime membership costs $119 per year in the United States.

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